All posts tagged Lib Dem conference

Opinion polls suggest that may be the guiding principle that gives the U.K.’s junior coalition government partner, the Liberal Democrats, the best chance of staying in government after the next election.

And it appears some of the party’s top brass recognize that — something that may have implications for how the party manages relations in its coalition with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s larger center-right Conservative party.

“One of our central aims as Liberal Democrats is to show that coalitions work,” Business Secretary Vince Cable told party members at the Lib Dem annual autumn conference in the English seaside town of Brighton. “At a time of crisis, coalition government was and is still the only way forward.”

Several of the Lib Dem top brass have said the party needs to stick to the current coalition — even though many of the party faithful find the compromises involved distasteful — to show it is a party worthy of government after years in opposition. But polls suggest the Lib Dems have lost more than half their support they had in the 2010 general election — with one recent survey of voters showing more than two thirds of their lawmakers would lose their seats in parliament if there was a snap election.